From 18 November 2025 Companies House will be introducing a new identity verification process under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (“ECCTA”).
You may have already received a letter/email from Companies House asking you to verify your identity.
On new company incorporations/new appointments
The identity verification process will be mandatory for all company directors and persons with significant control (PSC’s) on incorporation and appointment.
For existing companies, directors, and persons of significant control (“PSCs”)
18 November 2025 is the start of a 12-month transition period to verify their identity with Companies House.
After this date identity verification will then be mandatory, meaning that existing directors will need to provide their Unique Identifier as part of the Company’s next confirmation statement and new directors will need to provide their Unique Identifier as part of their appointment filing or on incorporation.
For example, this means that if your company’s confirmation statement is due on 30 November 2025, each relevant director and PSC must have verified their identity by that date in order for the confirmation statement to be accepted by Companies House.
You may have already received a letter/email from Companies House asking you to verify your identity.
Who will need to verify their identity?
The following people will be subject to mandatory identity verification rules:
- All new and existing company directors (including shadow directors);
- All new and existing PSCs;
- All members of limited liability partnerships (“LLPs”);
- Partners of limited partnerships; and
- Anyone incorporating a company or filing information at companies house on behalf of themselves or a company or LLP
What will the identity verification process look like once it has come into force?
Identity verification can be completed either:
- Directly with the Government using the GOV.UK One Login; or
- Through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (“ASCP”) – these will be organisations authorised by Companies House to file on behalf of clients and registered with a supervised UK body for anti-money laundering purposes, like solicitors and accountants.
Opt to verify yourself
If you opt to use the GOV.UK service, you will need a One Login account, details of your current address, and an ID document, for example a passport or a driving licence.
There is also the option to verify your identity face to face at a post office or by answering some security questions online if you live in the United Kingdom.
Please note that each individual director/PSC within your company will need a valid, personal email address as part of the verification process as the same email address can not be used for more than one individual
Once you have verified your identity, you will be provided with a unique identifier, which will be personal to you and can be used to connect your verified identity to your Companies House record for each role that you hold.
In most cases, you will only need to verify your identity once and the Companies House register will be updated with any changes.
If you wish Moore Thompson to continue to file relevant documents on behalf of your company with Companies House then we will need details of your unique identifier
Do not want to verify your identity directly – How will Moore Thompson be able to help?
As a registered Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ASCP) Moore Thompson may already carry out many functions on behalf of your company with Companies House, such as filing annual Confirmation Statements and Statutory Accounts.
As an ASCP, we will also be able to offer our clients the option of coming to us to carry out the identity verification process on your behalf.
Read our latest guidance to see the information that we require.
In order to provide this additional service, we will be charging a fee of £50 + VAT per individual verification.
The next step
Please complete our verification form to confirm whether you are happy to complete the verification process yourself or whether you wish Moore Thompson to complete this on your behalf.
If you state that you wish for Moore Thompson to carry out the verification process on your behalf, then we will arrange for a relevant staff member to be in contact and go through the process that would be involved and the documents etc, that will be required for us to carry out this service.